The output of Walt Disney Animation Studios–currently totaling 54 full-length films–has been cherished by audiences young and old for almost 80 years. In this weekly online feature, arts and entertainment editor Nathan Tucker will review and rank each of them.

The ability to press on as if you have accomplished a great thing, even if you have not in fact achieved anything at all, could be praised as “gumption.” It could just as easily be decried under the name of “delusion.” The Rescuers will prompt at least one of these words from its viewer; which one depends entirely on personal taste and sheer chance.

At the very least, the studio seems to be trying. The film opens on a beautiful set of watercolors, the animation has a definite form and sway, Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor are capable in voicing mice adventurers Bernard and Bianca–there is plenty of stuff that works. But there is little that awes the viewer, and any laughs come more from amusement than entertainment.

The film is the first designed more as a ride at Disneyland than a motion picture: it is obvious in the boat on Devil’s Bayou, the wild ride on Albatross Air, the underwater cave finale, and Medusa’s swamp-vehicle. That so many ideas stemmed from a single prompt is characteristic of the by-committee drafting process that holds the film’s fabric in place. The finished product is nearly torn apart trying to go in different directions. Is The Rescuers a return to the elaborate painterly animation of Disney’s Golden Age or a further regression into animation shortcuts? Depends on which frame is being watched. Is it the darkest Disney feature since Pinocchio, or a fun-filled hour of talking animal antics? Umm, yes–and so forth.

There is little, if anything, to fault the film for–but there are also few elements that truly deserve praise. The Rescuers simply is. Not good, not bad–just a decent feature-length cartoon from a period where that could be called an accomplishment.       

The List:

1. Bambi
2. Sleeping Beauty
3. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
4. Lady and the Tramp
5. The Jungle Book
6. Alice in Wonderland
7. Fantasia
8. Pinocchio
9. Robin Hood
10. The Rescuers
11. One Hundred and One Dalmatians
12. Peter Pan
13. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
14. Cinderella
15. Dumbo
16. The Aristocats
17. The Sword in the Stone
18. Melody Time
19. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
20. Fun and Fancy Free
21. Saludos Amigos
22. Make Mine Music
23. The Three Caballeros